


Jabberwocky

by dragons_SRSunn



Category: Ever After High, Ever After High Series - Shannon Hale
Genre: A Wonderlandiful World, Wonderland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29951259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_SRSunn/pseuds/dragons_SRSunn
Summary: The Jabberwock, too, is a Rebel.
Kudos: 8





	Jabberwocky

**Author's Note:**

> This was really written by a friend who was too shy to get her own account.
> 
> Jabberwocky is the plural of Jabberwock.

_'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves_

_Did gyre and gimble in the wabe_

The Jabberwock remembered beating his wings against the bright blue (usually) sky of Wonderland, the wind screaming (sometimes literally) in his ears, roaring for the sheer delight of it.

He remembered the glory he had felt, knowing Wonderland belonged to him and he belonged to Wonderland, and that he was free.

All that was, of course, before the Galumphing Hunt.

_All mimsy were the borogoves_

_And the mome raths outgrabe_

Like it said in the poem, the Jabberwock was to be killed by the son who "went galumphing back."

The Jabberwock remembered the first time he had seen a Galumphing Hunt.

It had almost been fun, at first. He had been curious, almost as curious as a Cheshire Cat.

There had been banners, and trumpets, and heralds, and a Red Knight and a White Knight and dozens of pawns. The hunt had been led by the King of Hearts.

And then he had seen them shoot their arrows, and throw their spears, and charge forward on their horses, and he had seen his brother Jabberwock falling from the sky, spiraling, spiraling, mouth open in a soundless roar, claws stretched out as if to grab the air.

The Jabberwock had rushed forward, beating his wings as hard as he could, stretching out his own claws so he could catch his brother Jabberwock-

The other Jabberwock hit the earth with a _thud_ and a horrible _crunch_ , and the Galumphing Hunt clustered around, and the Jabberwock forced his wings to beat the other way, to turn around, knowing he was too late.

He flew up, up, high above the Galumphing Hunt, and he hovered, forcing himself to watch. It was his duty-he had failed to save a fellow Jabberwock, so now he must watch that Jabberwock's death.

He watched a young lad, not even a knight yet, dismount his horse. He watched the Red Knight give the lad a sword. He watched the White Knight show him, with his own sword, how to swing it. He watched the young lad-the galumphing son, he now knew-walk over to the Jabberwock that lay on the earth, knees knocking, and he watched his brother Jabberwock try to bite him-so he still lived, still had enough strength to fight-poison spraying everywhere, corroding armor, burning flesh, but the sword was undamaged, glowing eerily violet, and he knew what it was; he shuddered, almost falling, catching himself just in time to see the dreaded vorpal sword come down upon the other Jabberwock's neck, slicing it off in one clean stroke.

The funny thing was, besides for that one spasm just before he died, the other Jabberwock hadn't even fought. 

As if he had been almost completely resigned to his death.

It was then that the Jabberwock learned the concept of destiny, and he vowed this: _I will_ never _be brought down by the Galumphing Hunt. Not for all the blood of Wonderland._

_"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!_

_The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!_

The people and creatures of Wonderland grew to fear the Jabberwock. Oh, they had always been afraid of Jabberwocky, but never like this.

The first person the Jabberwock killed was the galumphing lad that had slain the other Jabberwock. He picked him up with his claws, the boy kicking, and flew up, up, up, and then dropped him and watched him fall down, down, down.

The second person the Jabberwock killed was the King of Hearts. The Jabberwock simply landed in the palace gardens one day(squashing several Card guards)and faced the King of Hearts.

The king didn't look very surprised. Sad, if anything. "So it has come to this," he sighed. "May I have a few last words?"

The Jabberwock nodded. He was not one to deny a man(or lory, or bandersnatch, or giant egg) his last remembrance.

The king sighed again. "My wife and children should know I love them. The kingdom-I tried my best. I-I leave my legacy to all Hearts, that they may be worthy of the Hearts name-they _will_ be. Befriend a Cheshire Cat, but be wary-they are always out for themselves. Never trust a bandersnatch. When the sane ones come, be polite to them, but they cannot be trusted either. They do not understand Wonderland. And always revere Alice."

The Jabberwock nodded again. "This will be remembered. Your wife's roses will see to it." Then he breathed.

His breath clouded the air like a blue mist. Even he could not see anything. He heard the king gasp as he breathed it in.

When the mist cleared, the king was still standing there. His appearance was almost entirely unchanged. But his eyes seemed lighter, and he looked all around him in horror, as if seeing the famed Hearts rose gardens for the first time, and there was something dark and evil in it. Besides the Jabberwock.

But the king looked around him as though seeing the world with new eyes. He swayed, barely managing to stop himself from falling. "What..."His voice was barely audible. "What is this?"

"You lead the Galumphing Hunt," the Jabberwock stated. "You killed a Jabberwock. You would kill more Jabberwocky if you had a chance. You are a symbol of Wonderland. Not as much as the Alice, or a White Rabbit, but a symbol. I cannot let this stand.

"You are not dead. You are sane."

_Sane._

Sanity was Wonderlandian's worst nightmare, spoken of only in whispers in the night, only in pity and horror and revulsion for those poor Ever Afterlings who did not know or care that they were afflicted. The rare sane Wonderlandian led a miserable life, belonging neither here nor there.

The Jabberwock roared. He heard the scurrying of guards coming, but they would be too late.

He flew up, up and away into the wide blue sky,(although the blue was much darker than it had been, as though reflecting the king's tragedy).

_Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun_

_The frumious Bandersnatch!"_

The King of Hearts died three days later.

Perhaps the Jabberwock had killed him after all. Or perhaps he had died of a broken heart and a whole mind. 

Next, the Jabberwock went after the Mad Hatter's Tea Shoppe and Haberdashery. It, too, was a symbol of Wonderland. Plus it was a favorite spot for all of the Ever After tourists(those poor sane ones)whose fault the Galumphing Hunt was too, in a way. After all, if those Ever Afterlings didn't keep retelling their favorite stories over and over then there would be no need for a reoccurring Galumphing Hunt. 

His attack was sudden. He simply dropped out of the sky one day, fire blazing from his pale eyes and acid bubbles frothing from his mouth and nose. There was screaming, and shattering and running and breaking and smashing and crunching. 

He gloried in his vengeance. No Galumphing Hunt for him!

_He took his vorpal sword in hand_

_Long time the manxome foe he sought_

He did, however, respect the Mad Hatter's bravery. The puny Alice-sized human stood atop the counter, brown-and-blue hair slightly bloody, and spread his arms wide as though he was making an impenetrable barrier and shouted, "You shall not harm this edifice!"

The Jabberwock hissed, mud-flavored steam boiling out of its nose. "You do not tell me what to do. You cannot give me orders. You, however, are a Wonderlandian, and you had no part in the Galumphing Hunt. You, too, represent Wonderland-Wonderland tamed, but Wonderland. I will grant you your life. Step aside."

The Mad Hatter swallowed. "I will not. You will not harm this place. You will not harm the people here. You will leave-"

The Jabberwock laughed, and all those there(who were injured too badly to run away like the others had)remembered that sound for the rest of their lives. "I will not?" He roared, and the walls began to disintegrate.

The Mad Hatter stood his ground, staring defiantly at the Jabberwock.

The Jabberwock breathed a pale blue mist. The Mad Hatter's eyes widened as he sensed what it was. His hands shook and he blinked hard, and it was only then, faced with the threat of sanity, that he stepped aside.

The Jabberwock flew away leaving the Tea Shoppe and Haberdashery in ruins. He left the Mad Hatter his life, though. As the Jabberwock had said, he was a Wonderlandian, blameless in the Galumphing Hunts. And he respected the Mad Hatter's bravery. Very few would stand up to a Jabberwock. Although, some wondered, what did the Mad Hatter have to live for with his Shoppe destroyed?

(His children, of course. And they rebuilt the Shoppe too, but it wasn't quite the same.)

The Jabberwock went wild. He attacked knights and queens indiscriminately. He went after a colony of Cheshire Cats and devoured their leader in front of them, absorbing all the magic the Cheshire Cat held and instilling a permanent fear of Jabberwocky in all Cheshire Cats forever. He even dared to go after Alice.

She lived, of course-even he was not quite so daring as to kill an Alice, even if it was a former one and her daughter would take up her role. Alices had a strange Wondrous power. He just enjoyed frightening her-fear fed him almost as certainly as blood and Wonder did.

But it was that which set the Ever Afterlings after him.

Was Wonderland so desperate? he would wonder later. Were they so desperate to be rid of him that they would call in even the Ever Afterlings who knew nothing of Wonderland whatsoever(they would have done well to remember this, several generations later)to wave their wands and do the tricks they called magic? (As though their magic could hold a _candle_ next to the sun that was Wonderland!) Or did they just want to be rid of him any way possible and didn't care how they did it?

Or did they hate him that much that they would doom him to being trapped forever by the insidious, repulsive, _logical_ magic that was of Ever After?

(He was still a Wonderlandian beast, and deserved courtesy as such.)

(Didn't he?)

_So rested he by the Tumtum Tree_

_And stood awhile in thought_

He should have realized it was a trap when he saw a White Rabbit-not _the_ White Rabbit, of course, but another member of the family-sitting patiently atop a wabe and staring blankly at a Tumtum tree. But he dove down, jaws open wide to roar at the last moment, to startle and shock and strike terror into the rabbit just before its demise-

And then the rabbit reared up into its human form, a small human woman with snow-white hair, and she threw a dagger-not that it could harm him, but it startled him, distracted him-and then there were more humans, the White Queen, the Queen of Hearts, surrounded by guards, burning with vengeance for her husband, and the Red Knight and his apprentice-and the Ever Afterling sorcerers, chanting strange words with strange tickling lights.

There was a strange little man, with dark hair and penetrating green eyes, and he held up a small glass object the Jabberwock couldn't see clearly, and shouted, "Now, Giles!" and a man who looked like he could be his brother wrote something in a book-oh, that had magic, didn't it-and then the Jabberwock was being sucked away into nothingness.

Technically, it wasn't nothingness, but it felt like it.

He was trapped in the tiny cramped glass for what felt like eons, wanting to roar, to stretch, to _fly,_ but unable to make the slightest movement.

And then everything shattered, with an air-piercing splinter, and he was free.

The room in which he found himself was big, although not nearly as big as the skies of Wonderland. It was full of magical objects, which once upon a time would have interested him, but not now. Also inside the room were several Alice-sized creatures, most of him were sane Ever Afterlings, including the one who had trapped him in the glass.

There was also the Hat, the Cat, and the Card. 

Not the same ones he knew, of course. He could sense their blood and knew that they were several generations removed from the ones he had known(and sanitized, and respected, and killed)which told him how long he had been in the glass for, but they were of Wonderland all the same.

Why were they here?

But he did not dwell on that now; he knocked the wall out of his way and flew.

He did not have the strength to fly for long; there was no Wonder here.

(Why was there no Wonder here? There was Wonder everywhere!)

_And as in uffish thought he stood_

_The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame_

He was too weak to think about where he was, and why he was in what appeared to be Ever After, and why there were other Wonderlandians here. He simply slept.

He intended to sleep for a long time, long enough to regain his strength. Then he would return to Wonderland, and see what had occurred in his absence, and if a ban on Galumphing Hunts could possibly be negotiated.

But almost as soon as he slept, he was woken by the shattering of glass just like the one which he had been imprisoned in, reverberating through the Wonder of the world, little though this world had it.

(Of course the mirror and the Uni Cairn was connected to Wonder. They were built out of the remnants of Alice's glass.)

He woke, and he could not get back to sleep, and he was hungry.

This world's food did not satisfy him. It was too reasonable. Everything crunched and swallowed just like it was supposed to. Not once did anything jump up again. And it was all so...so _thin_ and _plain_ and simply Wonderless.

He tried to return to Wonderland. It should have been simple-just tear a hole in the universe and go through.

But nothing worked.

He tried dozens of times.

He even poked his snout down a rabbit burrow-that's how desperate he was, reduced to trying to find entrances to Wonderland like a clueless Alice.

It was all futile. He would remain trapped in this world forever(a sentiment that the Hat, the Hatter, the Card, the Cat, and the White Queen all refused to admit yet struggled to deny).

But _he_ still had Wonder. He could _make_ this world Wondrous, into his own Wonderland(without a Galumphing Hunt). Oh, he was not so presumptuous as to think that his magic could equal Wonderland's. Jabberwocky were Jabberwocky, but Wonderland was Wonderland, and nothing could hold a candle, a droplet, a shard to it.

But he would make this world just slightly more Wondrous, perhaps just enough to allow a portal to Wonderland to be created.

And so he began.

_Came whiffling through the tulgey wood_

_And burbled as it came!_

He centered on that place he had escaped from, full of little Alice-beings, one of them being the one who had trapped him in the Uni Cairn in the first place. He thought that fitting.

But more important, it was where the Hat, the Cat, and the Card were. They were full of Wonder too, Wonder he needed.

And so he came to the Alice gathering place(it was called a school, apparently, for some reason)and began, pulsating out all his Wonder and watching the school turn into an almost-Wonderland.

Almost, but not quite. That made it even worse, somehow.

But it was close enough to almost fool him, and he used pure Wonder too, his own and the Hatter's and the Card's.

The Cat was scared of him, had always been, but overcame her fear to try to release the Hatter-he respected her too, for that. Very few could stand up to a Jabberwock. There was the dreaded vorpal sword, which lost him a paw, but _he_ ended up wielding it in the end! Imagine that, a Jabberwock wielding the vorpal sword! He would have nothing to fear from Galumphing Hunts ever again! He would live on in Jabberwock legend eternal!

_One-two! One-two! And through and through_

_The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!_

And there were annoying hedgehogs-what were they doing _here?_ Was there a croquet game here? No, there was not, only in the Card's fevered imagination!-and a girl who refused to change into anything remotely resembling Wonder, who said she was a living puppet; and there was the Hat.

The Hat, who would one day be the Hatter, who used a magic he did not know, an unearthly, Wondrous, fearsome power. He did not know what it was, and that frightened him. It opened up doors to other worlds(quite literally)and used others to change things. 

He would have wanted that magic for himself, but the Hat used it, and she(and the _others_ )kept open the vorpal-opened door to the Land of Wonder, and pushed him in.

_He left it dead, and with its head_

_He went galumphing back_

Once he got over the fact that he would not rule any land, and got over the indignity of being defeated by a bunch of Alice-sized humans(was this what his brother Jabberwock had felt like, so long ago?), he was actually quite content.

After all, had he not wanted to return to Wonderland all along?

And it was not quite such an indignity after all. He respected his defeaters too.

The Cat, for overcoming her fear of him to try to free the Hatter.

The Hatter, for sacrificing himself for his daughter and her friends.

The Card, for standing up to him, for fighting him-she was very good with the vorpal sword(he was _not_ afraid of her)and it must be said that he did enjoy leeching her Wonder. (She would be a good queen.)

The Wonderless Girl, for joining a fight that was not her own.

And the Hat, for using the magic that she had. Storytelling, she had called it. Storytelling was powerful. ~~More~~ As powerful as Wonderland, it seemed. He had not thought such a thing was possible.

_"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?_

_Come to my arms, my beamish boy!_

And now he was in Wonderland, with the vorpal sword.

But Wonderland seemed different. Changed. Altered. And not for the better.

There were echoes of tainted Ever After magic deep within it, deeper than it had any right to be.

The people were different too. Sick. Strange. At times they seemed almost half-sane.

Wonderland and its denizens were ill. One queen was mad, and not in a good way. Another had left, abandoning her homeland and her daughter. The last one had become desperate and territorial and condemning, until it was rumored that her hands were as red as her name.

The Jabberwock did not know what had happened, and he wished for the days of old, when he could fly through the bright blue sky of Wonderland with no worries, no fears, no confusion, only pure joy at the Wonderness of flight.

But he was in Wonderland, and that was the important thing.

And, although he would not have wished it to happen this way, his goal had been achieved: There were no longer Galumphing Hunts.

_O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"_

_He chortled in his joy_

But Wonderland was not quite Wonderland anymore. The Jabberwock would fly in the sickly green sky and look down upon a diseased land, and wish he could restore Wonderland to what it had once been.

It was not simply that he was in the future(the future for him, anyway), although that had been one of his theories at first. Nothing could have changed Wonderland like this, not in as many years as there were shards of Alice's broken mirror.

But, apparently, something had. Something strange, foreign to Wonderland. He could not risk asking-the people of Wonderland may have been too concerned with survival to organize Galumphing Hunts, but they weren't very likely to react calmly and peacefully to a Jabberwock showing up at their door(or burrow, or knothole). Especially a Jabberwock of his reputation, who had the vorpal sword, which meant that they couldn't defeat it.

And he couldn't ask another Jabberwock. Jabberwocky tended to be solitary creatures, only coming together at rare times, such as to ally together in a time of war. He would have thought that this would count as one, but all the Jabberwocky had seemed to decide that the best way to survive this-this _curse_ was to stay out of its way and keep to themselves.

They were right, it seemed. And the Jabberwock reconciled himself to the fact that nothing could be done, that it was impossible to cure Wonderland.

(The Jabberwock had spent too long trapped in Ever After. Every Wonderlandian knows full well that _nothing_ is ever impossible.)

_'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves_

_Did gyre and gimble in the wabe_

And one day he was sitting in a grove of Tumtums admiring the vorpal sword when he sensed a crack open between worlds. (Jabberwocky can sense such things.) He had thought that impossible- _nothing is impossible_ -but he had been wrong.

And he sensed several Alice-beings come through it. A few were boring sane Ever Afterlings. One of the sane ones, though, had magic sickeningly similar to the scourge that infected Wonderland.

But he did not attack, because of the others he sensed too.

Three lost Wonderlandians, returned to their home.

The brave Cat.

The defiant Card, who would make an excellent queen. 

And the young Hatter(not that Hat, no; she was a Mad Hatter in her own right)with the otherworldy storytelling powers. The one who could call to ones not of this world, nor any world he knew, and bend this world her own way.

She had magic to rival Wonderland's.

And this magic could very well _heal_ Wonderland.

He flew up above, until he was trailing them from the sky, watching them from above a cloud.

This would be interesting. The magic this group had brought with them could put an end to this horror Wonderland found itself in.

And if it didn't? It would still be fun to watch.

And at least he wasn't being pursued by the Galumphing Hunt. 

_All mimsy were the borogoves_

_And the mome raths outgrabe_


End file.
